7/10
This is a better story than it is a movie, if that makes sense. It's a history of Denmark that I was certainly unaware of, and the movie does a good job bringing it on screen (faithfully too, from what I understand). I will say that while the movie did everything well, it didn't do anything exceptionally either. Maybe a little bit too long but the story is clearly told, well-acted, and it certainly makes you think. I was satisfied.
7.5/10
A good documentary, even if the "twist" was somewhat spoiled for me and anyone who knew a thing or two about Rodriguez going into the film. While it was an interesting - and pretty crazy - story, I must say I didn't feel the "triumph" or like "standing up and cheering" that the DVD cover promised, but hey. Rodriguez is a great musician and deserves the exposure, and seems like a genuinely nice guy too, so all the better that the accolades are finally reaching him, albeit belatedly.
9/10
I've seen the first two Paradise Lost films and read a book about the case but the West Memphis 3 story never stops being tragic and terrifying no matter how many times you hear it. I missed PL3 so I don't know what's in here that isn't in there and vice versa (the release of the 3, obviously), but this does a good job of telling everything from beginning to end and bringing new things to light that I assume most people will be unaware of. It's maybe a little bit too all-encompassing at times and you start to feel its running length, but it's almost always interesting besides. The biggest crime is obviously the murder of the three boys but what makes the whole situation all the more tragic is the fact that a state and a so-called justice system turned three lost lives into six, with the wrongful imprisonment of Damien, Jason and Jessie. God help us as a society if we don't learn something from all of this.
8/10
The fruits of the Japanese new wave are seemingly in endless supply. Branded to Kill is one of the most notorious, as it got director Seijun Suzuki essentially blacklisted from the Nikkatsu studio for being too "out there". It's certainly out there (the best of these films are), totally goofy and cool and weird. Maybe it doesn't hit the heights of my favorite, A Colt is My Passport (also starring chipmunk-cheeked Joe Shoshido) or Tokyo Drifter but it's still pretty excellent.
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8/10
Catching up on on an old Criterion I never got around to watching, I enjoyed this early suspense/road movie from Henri-Georges Clouzot very much. At 2 and a half hours it is a bit bloated. The South American scenes, as much as I enjoyed them, could have been trimmed a bit. I'm not sure so much exposition and background story was necessary. The trip itself was great...filled with ups and downs which each of the four drivers' personalities taking centre stage at a certain point. I was fearful for a moment that we were in for a happy ending - Clouzot rightfully snatches that away with bombastic, evil glee.
8.5/10
I was a little unsure of its episodic format, but I think it generally worked well. And I can't really imagine another way to have done it. Everything I was supposed to feel and didn't with The Hurt Locker, I felt here. The pacing was tight, the acting was great (though as much as I like Chastain, I don't think she was that unbelievable) and the direction was superb. The final sequence plays out like a masterclass of maintaining tension and suspense in direction...with the added challenge of playing to an audience who knows how it all ends anyway. Excellent.
5/10
This is not a very good film, and what makes Rust and Bone even more disappointing is the fact that it has so many strong elements - you get the sense that there's a really great movie just outside the frame, waiting to be put together into something fantastic...and either Audiard lost the plot or I just didn't get it.
This movie has absolutely no rhythm, the tone is consistently messy, and it completely wastes the definitely-there chemistry between its two leads (who both give excellent performances). It's soundtrack is overwrought (figures that it's Bon Iver, a band I always suspected would annoy me), no more so than at the end of the film, when the "slow the action down and hit play on the soundtrack" reaches its height of saccharine stupidity. The movie is completely devoid of humanity or humour when it would benefit greatly from both. Just an ugly, disappointing experience that could have been so much more, and frankly baffling coming from the hand that crafted A Prophet.
